Shorn the sheep

We’ve been putting it off for quite a while, but on Monday the day had finally come to give the sheep their annual trim. We had a couple of Aussie couples booked in last week and we thought they’d be bound to be able to give us some tips, but I’m afraid they had no sheep shearing experience between them, so were next to useless. Our sheep are quite a friendly – and greedy – lot, so armed with a bit of bread we were confident of catching them. This proved to be the case as Roger dived in to grab a leg, then rugby tackled the startled animal to the ground, tied their legs together and then began the cutting…with a pair of kitchen scissors! He does have a pair of old hand shears which were designed for the purpose, but they don’t seem to have much in the way of edges, so my old kitchen scissors have to suffice. Clover was first up, as she is the most timid. She suffered a few cuts (!), which we dabbed with betadine, but she seemed quite pleased with her new coiffure…

Here she is with Donkey, her 10 week old lamb, who is now bigger than his mother but is still suckling!!

Next up was Hercules our lovely ram (and father to Donkey of course). Now he’s a big lad and took a bit longer and by now the storm clouds were gathering in the sky and we needed to crack on a bit. I am using the royal we here of course as the ‘ol fella did all the work; my role was to pat their heads and tell them what a good sheep they were! Hercules emerged sporting a natty stomach fringe which I believe is all the rage in sheep circles…

And finally, Rosemary’s turn. Now the sky really was black at this point, the wind started to blow and she had to be snipped at quite a pace. Remarkably she probably turned out the best of the lot…

We mentioned to our Aussie guests that the sheep had now been sheared, so they felt the need to check out our work. Sadly they were’t too complimentary (laughed for quite a long time!), and worryingly took several photos that they are going to share with sheep farmer friends back home. I’d like to see how they got on with a pair of kitchen scissors and an imminent storm!! Nice job Roger…(don’t worry Clover, Hercs and Rosemary, it’ll grow back soon…)!

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The Aussie guests will be dining out on this story for some time 🙂 Mind you, I’m slightly surprised to hear they have friends who are sheep farmers. Most Australians these days would barely have sighted a sheep they are so urbanised (much less know how to shear them, and most of the shearing teams are Kiwis).